let us beware of confounding the elevated animation of a Boffuet and a Saurin with the contemptible rant of a Fancourt and a Gunn. This want of animation in our Clergy is not fo general as the author feems to believe; it certainly is not to be discerned in moft of the preachers at our different charities, where energy is juftly ftated as being productive of the greatest advantages; and, if he were in the habit of hearing the morning and evening preachers at the Magdalen, and the evening preachers at the Foundling and the Afylum, he would, we are perfuaded, be led to admit the juftice of our obfervation.

The Clergy are cautioned against the admiffion of "points of religious controverfy" into their fermons. These points should cer tainly not be urged too frequently, nor obtruded unneceffarily upon a congregation; but there are times when the Clergy would be guilty of a grofs neglect of duty, if they failed to imprefs them upon the attention of their audience. The prefent, in our apprehenfion, are times of this description, when the pure doctrines of the church are openly attacked by fchifmatics; when the moft infidious attempts are inceffantly made to feduce her members from their allegiance, and when no effort is fpared to undermine the establishment. On fuch an occafion, we contend, it is the bounden duty of the Clergy, fo to explain those points which are the immediate fubject of controverfy as to enable every individual of their flock clearly to comprehend them, and fo effectually to guard them from the arts of perverfion, the dan gers of feduction, and the fin of fchifm. The preacher, who faithfully difcharges this duty, will, affuredly, not appear, in any degree, "as the violator of the laws of religious freedom."

"Againft that German monfter, infidelity, which (to use the words that Gildas applied to the Arian herefy) like a fierce ferpent, is continually vomiting forth her tranfmarine poifon upon us! againft that growing monster let our moft ftrenuous exertions be directed; and, to adapt a once celebrated expreffion to a better purpose, let us not be Germanised to stone." Here we fully agree with our author. In short this effay may be read with advantage by all our young Di vines, and, heartily concurring, as we do, in the main object of it, we ftrenuously recommend it to their attention, and to that of the public.

POLITICS.

ART. XXIV, Mr. Pitt's Democracy Manifefted; in a Letter to him, containing Praifes of, and Strictures on, the Income Tax. By Thomas Cho Rickman, 8vo. Pr. 37. 15. 6d. Rick

man. 1800.

MR. Thomas Clio Rickman appears to be a fcribbling book

.feller, infected with the fpirit of reform, and, like moft of our modern reformers and philofophifts, intolerably arrogant, egotistical,

H h 4

egotifical, and empty. Exulting in the fancied fuperiority of his own genius and abilities, he looks down with contempt on the endowments of the premier, of whose talents he modeftly declares he "never had but one opinion;"" I have always," he adds, "thought them below mediocrity." But it is not the defect in the minifter's talents alone that excites the indignation and fcorn of this doughty affailant; Mr. Pitt is accufed by him as having neither feelings nor a heart, and is ranked among "ideots,, ill-dif pofed men."

Yet, notwithstanding this difplay of his fovereign displeasure, Thomas Clio Rickman deigns to commend the minifter for his adoption of the Income Tax, because, in his judgment, it will ferve the cause of democracy. He infifts upon the propriety and expediency of rendering public the circumftances of every individual, but for no other purpose that we can difcover, but that of plundering the rich with a view to reward the poor and to promote an equality of property, in adverting to which, he gravely obferves that human fociety is at prefent more diftorted, degraded, and brutalifed by improper appropriation of property; more cajoled and impofed upon, through a falfe and foolish refpect for it, and its poffeffors; and more duped and made more milerable by improper notions of it, than by any other thing whatever.” (P. 17.) But the author is egregioufly mistaken, and abominably vain, in arrogating to himself the merit of originality, in his philofophical theory refpecting property, to which he devotes feveral pages, for it has not only been promulgated long fince, but actually reduced to practice, by many worthy philofophifts, on the plains of Hounflow and Finchley, whofe bold and daring atchievements are faithfully recorded, in the philofophical memoirs of NEWGATE!

Of the religious and political fentiments of Mr. T. C. Rickman, an adequate idea may be formed from the following judicious and profound obfervation." Secrefy and mystery imply error always; whether it be in religion, government, traffic, or any thing else: and if the fecrets and myfteries of the trading, or political world, are the means by which honeft folks are cajoled, "bilked, and impofed upon, and the poor rendered ftill poorer; if thefe are the mediums by which provifions are made dear, and fcarcity prevails; if these are a part of the means in the hands of priests and governors, to impofe and bamboozle, then the fooner they are found out, divulged, and laid open, the better!" (p. 6.)

WAR, we are told by this enlightened fage, "is only murder, upon a large fcale," and this must be the cafe, forfooth! because "the whole body of the Quakers hold it a facred tenet." Mr. T. C. R, we prefume, has never read the hiftory of the civil wars in the middle of the laft century, where the pacific difpofition of his favourite feft appears, at least, problematical; and if he was as well acquainted with the facred writings as he would have us believe that he is, he would know that this affertion respecting war is nothing less than blafphemy.

If this man is to be credited all the means of defraying the expences

pences of government are" dead robberies." His arguments, in . 26, admit of no other interpretation. And in the note, P. 25, he tells the people that they ought " to turn their attention to fome means to prevent their little property being taken from them;" Anglicé, that they ought to refift the payment of taxes and involve themselves in all the guilt of rebellion! Bravo, Mr. T. C. R.

The devil, we have been told, can quote fcripture to serve his purpose; fo can Mr. Rickman, who cites it with a view to prove that riches form an inconteftible proof of wickedness, and will inevitably incur everlafting punishment! In his poftfcript he falfely eftimates the national debt at fix hundred millions, an exaggeration of more than a fourth, and nearly one third. But the object of this statement, when combined with the other parts of the pamphlet, is too evident to be mistaken.

After these notable fpecimens of the fublime production of Mr. T. C. Rickman, our readers will not be furprized to hear, from himfelf, that he is in habits of friendship with THOMAS PAINEPar nobile fratrum; and that, in his opinion, all the various replies to Paine's writings only " prove how eafy it is to abufe, and how impoffible it is to refute, truth!!!"

*

* One of these, "In FAVOUR OF DEISM," he has the effrontery to advertise, at the end of this pamphlet.

ART. XXV. A Letter from the Rev. Peter Flood, D. D. Pref dent of the Roman Catholic College, Maynooth, to the Hon. ******* M.P. London. Relative to a Pamphlet entitled a Fair Reprefentation of the prefent political State of Ireland." By Patrick Duigenan, L.L. D. &c. 8vo. PP. 16. 6d. Coghlan.

London. 1800.

THE object of this letter is to correct an erroneous statement of Dr. Duigenan's, respecting the number of students in the college of Maynooth, who had taken an active part in the rebellion; and, at the fame time, to vindicate the loyalty of the rest of that body. It is written with spirit and with temper, and is particularly deferving the attention of Dr. Duigenan, who will no doubt be anxious to correct any error or mifrepresentations, into which he may have been betrayed, by exaggerated accounts, at a time when the spirit of party raged with uncommon violence.

NOVELS.

ART. XXVI. Andrew Stuart; or the Northern Wanderer. By Mary Ann Hanway, Author of Ellinor; or the World as it is. Four Vols. Lane. London.

RETIRING to our boudoir, with a high goût for mirth, we

vaticinated, from the perufal of this literary morceau, a quan

tum

zum fufficit of amufement. We invoked the laughter-loving god to sepel the malignant approaches of morbid melancholy, to re-exhilirate our fpirits fhould they chance to droop, and to faccharife the acerbity of furrounding objects. But, whether from the ponderofity of our déjeûne, from not having taken our morning whet at the auberge, or from the difeafed ftate of our pia mater, from fome latent cause, fo it happened that we were irresistibly borne down by the ftream of ennui; so exceffive was our fang froid, that all our author's agrémens were loft; and, no more than a caput mortuum, could we enter into the fpirit of her badinage.

Vi et armis we ftrove to retain fenfation in our optic nerves; but Morpheus, that fombrous deity, weighed heavy on our eyelids, and we yielded to the foporific impulfe.

The wrongs of the gentle-hearted Isabella, incarcerated in a caf. tellated manfion, intenerated not our rigid feelings; nor did the vulgarity of the emaciated Orpington's cher ami excite our fouls to laughter.

Entre nous, we feel ourfelves under the painful neceffity of pronouncing, fans ceremonie, that the Northern Wanderer, who left the wee houfee by the bourn fide, to fee the world and become a great man, is not at all comme il faut; and, though the amor patrie Hows in his veins, he is never likely to take the pas among the canaille of his contemporaries. For the benefit of our kind readers who are not quite fo learned as authors and reviewers, we beg leave to remark that the above is an humble imitation of the style in which Andrew Stuart is written. From the motto which our fair author had thought proper to prefix' to this performance, we fat down in joyous expectation of participating in many a lively fcene; for like her we thought that

" 'Tis SATIRE gives the strongest light to sense,
To thought compreffion, vigour to the foul,
To language bounds, to fancy due controul,
To truth the fplendor of her awful face,
To learning dignity, to virtue grace,
To confcience ftings beneath the cap or crown,
To vice, that terror, fhe will feel and own.”

Judge then, ye candid beings, what must have been our disappoint. ment and vexation when, after having moft religiously performed our duty in perufing no less than one thousand three hundred and forty one inflated pages of letter prefs, almoft the only paffage which we found worthy of our notice was the following: "Few men, even in this enlightened era, would chufe a wife from the new fchool of philofophy, who has imbibed her ideas of feminine delicacy, from the writings of a Wollstonecraft, moral rectitude from the works of Godwin and Holcroft, propriety of conduct from Rouffeau, and the tenets of her religion from the effufions of Voltaire and Hume." For the juftnefs of the above fentiment we must allow fome credit; but it is like the fingle grain of wheat in four bushels of chaff: the

prize is no adequate compenfation for the labour of discovery. Surely one thousand three hundred and forty one pages might have afforded fomething more valuable! And, indeed, from Mrs. Hanway's pen, we were entitled to expect better things. We have nothing, however, to object to this novel on the fcore of morality. The moral is good, and the author labours to enforce the precepts of honour, and virtue. It is not to the design but to the execution that our objections apply.

ART. XXVII. Ormond; or the Secret Witness. By the author of Wieland, Arthur Mervyn, &c. &c. 1 Vol. 4s. Lane. London.

1800.

THIS performance, though confifting of only one volume, from the smallness and clofeness of its typography, contains nearly as much as three volumes printed in the usual manner. This may, perhaps, be an inducement to purchase it to those who are fond of" a cheap pennyworth."

"Ormond," fays the author, " will, perhaps, appear to you a contradictory, or unintelligible being. I pretend not to the infallibility of infpiration. He is not a creature of fancy."-This may be true; but, from our ftudy and knowledge of human nature, we are convinced that, if he be" not a creature of fancy," he must have been engendered in the brain of phrenzy. He is a "monfter which the world never faw." From much disgusting and pernicious nonfenfe contained in the work before us, we extract the following palliation, or rather vindication, of the crime of fuicide when compared with that of drunkenness.

"The preffure of grief is fometimes fuch as to prompt us to feek a refuge in voluntary death. We must lay afide the burthen which we cannot fuftain. If thought degenerate into a vehicle of pain, what remains but to deftroy that vehicle? For this end, death is the obvious, but not the only, or morally speaking, the worst means. There is one method of obtaining the blifs of forgetfulnefs, in comparison with which fuicide is innocent."

Are thefe the deductions of a mind imbued with the powers of ratiocination?-No! They are the effufions of a pragmatic enthufiaft a mad-headed metaphyfician! Such, indeed, is the whole of the performance, excepting the space which is occupied by a dry and prolix detail of the progrefs of the yellow fever.

We fhall only add, that, if a want of perfpicuity, if a want of elegance in ftyle, if a want of imagination, if a want of nature in the delineation of character, if a want of incident, if a want of plot and connection, and, finally, if a want of common fenfe, be excellencies in a novel, the author of Ormond, Wieland, Artbur Mervyn, &c. &c. has a fair claim to the laurel of pre-eminence in the temple of Minerva,"

MISCEL